Adventure of the Copper Beeches -- Conclusion

TV Tropes comments that in Sherlock Holmes stories, the woman is always innocent.  In Copper Beeches, that apparently applies even to Mrs. Toller.  She wraps up the loose ends that the clues in the story did not fill.  She says that she was Alice Rucastle's only friend in the household. Alice inherited an annuity from her mother that she let her father manage.  However, a husband would not accept the situation so quietly, so when a suitor began courting Alice, her father tried to make her sign over the annuity before he would allow the marriage.  It was the stress over the annuity that made Alice fall sick and led to her hair being cut off.  Mr. Rucastle took Alice prisoner, but Mrs. Toller remained in communication with her suitor and arranged the rescue.  Presumably the annuity would go to someone other than her father if Alice died before him, or it would have been a simple matter for him to have let her die in her illness, but that is not discussed.  Holmes was somewhat skeptical that Mrs. Toller was acting entirely out of the goodness of her heart and suggested she had been bribed, which Mrs. Toller did not dispute.

When I first read the story, I found Mrs. Toller's revelations rather annoying.  As she commented, it meant that all their pains were wasted, that things would have been exactly the same if they had done nothing.  And it upended assumptions and introduced material outside the clues the readers were allowed.

But after reading the story again and thinking it over, Mrs. Toller's role is essential, because without it, the story would have had an extraordinary number of far-fetched coincidences.  Think about it.  Violet Hunter just happens to get into the forbidden wing of the house when Toller is too incapacitated by drink to release the hound.  Her employer lets her go to town the day after threatening her life.  And it just so happens that the next day is the day that the Rucastles are going out, Toller is incapacitated by drink, and the rescue is planned.  What are the chances?

But it becomes somewhat more plausible if the whole thing was planned.  Holmes comments, and Mrs. Toller confirms, that she and the young man were deliberately supplying Toller with drink to get him out of the way.  One can imaging that Mrs. Toller communicated to the young man that the Rucastles were going out the next day, so if they could provide Toller with enough drink, the rescue could proceed.  Toller, like the enterprising alcoholic that he was, got into the liquor sooner than they had planned and was soon so drunk that he both left the key unguarded and was unable to release the hound.  Thus Violet was able to venture into the mystery wing and see signs of a captive the day before the rescue was planned.  Although Toller somewhat disrupted things by getting drunk too soon, it was a simple matter to supply him with enough drink to keep in out of the way for two days instead of one, and the rescue could otherwise proceed as planned. As for why Mr. Rucastle would let Miss Hunter to into a town with a train station the day after threatening her life -- well, I can't help you there.

On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence Mr. Rucastle is not all that smart, or is over-confident in his charms.  Hiring Violet Hunter at a glance, dismissing as unimportant what she would actually teach his son, and offering an excessive salary all set off alarm bells.  If he had been smarter, he would have turned on the charm, chatted with her, and pretended to hit it off.  He would have asked about what she could teach and feigned interest, said it was just what he was looking for.  Instead of offering an unheard-of salary, he might have asked about wearing a particular dress or sitting in a particular chair and offered to compensate her for these little quirks with a salary that was generous but not alarming -- perhaps five pounds a month, or sixty a year.  That would have seemed a whole lot less suspicious.

Of course, there would still be the matter of her hair, and Rucastle would somehow have to come up with a plausible reason for Violet to cut it.   The most obvious suggestion would be to admit part of the truth -- that he was hiring Miss Hunter, not just for her accomplishments, but for her resemblance to his late daughter, Alice and his wish to be reminded of her. Certainly when Miss Hunter found the hair in the drawer, she would know where it came from. On the other hand, the approach would have its drawbacks.  When she saw the young man staring, she would probably guess that he was a suitor of Alice, confused at seeming to see her alive, and suggest they invite him in and introduce him.  That might not be unsurmountable.  Mr. Rucastle could dismiss him as a gold digger whose attentions were unwanted.*  Miss Hunter might even grasp the purpose of the dog.  But figuring out that Alice as not dead, but being held captive, seems a bridge too far.

In short, kudos to Sherlock Holmes for solving the mystery, and too bad it didn't matter. In any event, the story ends happily. Watson reports that Mr. Rucastle survived but only as an invalid in the care of his devoted wife, and his servants, who know enough to have complete job security.  Alice and her suitor were married, while Violet Hunter became head of a private school.  Watson had hoped that Holmes might take a romantic interest in her, but he cared only for the mystery.

___________________________________________
*And after all, in both literary convention and reality, father trying to protect daughter's money from grasping husband was more common than husband trying to protect wife's money from grasping father.